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10/29/2011

Professional development conferences play a large role in my
life. What’s not to love about
intellectual sharing, healthy questioning of norms and looking into the future
of one’s field? It’s hard if not
impossible to walk away without a mind whirling full of ideas and
possibilities.

As a side note, with these free online conference
possibilities, I find myself stepping a bit beyond my profession and gaining a
broader view of education and our future by attending. Although I am not a librarian, the topics of
this conference seem applicable to all of education. We have addressed some of these ideas within
this blog such as in the post, What’s a Book? Is This a Book? I also learn a lot from following and
interacting with librarians in twitter and on Google+. What a better way to learn and support this
amazing group of people than by attending?

10/24/2011

Series Introduction
to Tech and Ed Play with Web 2.0 Tools: I’m excited about this series of posts. It started with this question that you may want to
challenge yourself to answer as well: What ways
do I currently use or have I used digital technology effectively in the
classroom or in my personal life? I’ve
been contemplating how to answer this question on the blog for a long time, and
I have put it off because it seems overwhelming. It also makes me feel
vulnerable to show examples that are less than what I am capable of doing, but
what I had time to do, the knowledge to do at any given time, etc. (The whole
competence vs. performance thing my TCE 572 students discussed this week.)
These experiences have spanned many classes and several years. I will inevitably fall short here because I
know there are so many more creative ideas and tools to explore, so I’d love to
gather examples and ideas from our readers.
When I recall one of the main focuses of this blog, to play with
technology and share, I’m going to go for it here!

My first post here focuses on online timelines. Upcoming posts will highlight online make-your-own comic strips and books, voicethreads, uses of screencasting tools in
digital storytelling, and more. A final
post will be a screencast compilation of some of my own creations.

Description and My Example
(When Tech): I became interested a few years ago in the possibility of
online timelines, and dipity.com was the
first one I explored. Dipity states, “Users can create, share,
embed and collaborate on interactive, visually engaging timelines that
integrate video, audio, images, text, links, social media, location and
timestamps.” I used it in an intermediate
adult ESOL Listening/Speaking/Vocabulary class as a simple model for students
when doing a presentation on their past, present, and future. My example is really basic, but it
gives the general idea. Watch this video
that walks you through it.

Here’s another example on dipity entitled Steve
Jobs Life and Career. You
may change the views in the upper right hand corner to see it as a timeline,
flipbook, list, or map. Happy exploring
of dipity.com.

Possible Uses in
Education (Met Ed): Several of my former college of education students have
used and even presented their own dipity
timelines when they reflected on their own language learning. Online timelines can be used in all content areas. Students or teachers can highlight any
event(s) in a history timeline. They can
use them to document the steps of a scientific experiment. They can use them to tell a story, outline the
plot or characters in a story, etc.
Online timelines can also serve as an alternative to a Powerpoint or
Prezi. How can you use them?

I like how many of the timelines likeDipity
can be embedded in a blog or website.
Most of them have the option to be either private or public. More online timelines that I haven’t yet had
the time to explore completely are listed in our web 2.0 tools page. Some
of them include LIFE Timeline, TimeToast, and Xtimeline.LIFE Timelinecontains ready to go timelines with some beautiful pictures as
well as the option to make your own. Tiki Toki also looks especially
engaging to me.

Additional sources: If you are interested in exploring more student
examples of media in education, check out Wes Fryer’s Share: Playing With Media. His site, book and podcast in part inspired
me to get started on this series.

Discussion: How would you use or have you used online
timelines? Which timeline(s) have you
found useful? Feel free to share a link
here or drop us a line via email.

We were going to use this Primary Wall link to introduce ourselves: http://primarywall.com/TEB0aRKt5o For whatever reasons, it wasn't working in the lab. That was the first time we had experienced any issues with Primary Wall, so we still recommend it for elementary teachers. It's a good reminder though to test out any technology in your given setting first and to have a plan B.

We used this Titan Pad as a wrap up of the discussion. http://titanpad.com/IRmBcuMAhB Titan Pad is an easy set up, online collaborative writing tool, with a low learning curve. No passwords are required and only the link is needed.

10/09/2011

I am ten years old and a guest blogger here. I often find interesting sites and sometimes want to share them. I will occasionally post things I think teachers should see. Here's my first post!

Do you know what the Guinness World Record for people doing the most jumping jacks is? Michelle Obama is trying to break the record. Click here to see how you can help or just to watch the event on October 11, 2011. It is found on National Geographic Kids. This is a site I recommend for teachers.

10/08/2011

We have been blogging for approximately a year now on When Tech Met Ed.Sylvia Ellison at El’mentor recently passed on The
Versatile Blogger award to us. It was a
welcomed reminder of how professionally useful the blogging experience is. Our purpose continues to be to explore
technology as a tool and for professional development. Along the way, we have discussed and
researched topics such as gaming, transmedia storytelling, podcasts, etc. These topics often make us think and are fun
to consider in larger contexts such as educational reform and the future jobs
of children. Blogging has also opened up some doors like professional networking.

After accepting The Versatile
Blogger, here are some things we are requested to do:

Thank the person (people) who nominated you and provide a link back to their
blog.

Share 7 things about you.

Pass this award along to 15 other blogs that you have discovered.

Seven Things About Us (See our individual bio pages at Cheridy and Kacey.)

Cheridy: I can’t think without considering education
and learning. I’ve tried without much
success. Even simple things such as taking walks, watching movies, etc. cause
me to make connections with teaching and education. This can at times be annoying to those around
me, but on a positive note, it leads me to have a love for curriculum
development.

Kacey: I am interested in learning. I spend time listening, reading
and processing anything I can find to help my students learn.

Cheridy: I am interested in
learning more about instructional design and effective ways of teaching online
classes.

Kacey:I became a teacher because as a child I had a difficult time learning.
My hope is that because I struggled and eventually succeeded I can fast
forward a child in their learning so they won't have to go through the
pain and frustration that I did.

Cheridy: Chocolate,
family/friends, huckleberries, reading, teaching, traveling, and writing make
me happy. Above all, I like people and
activities that make me laugh or think.

Kacey: I enjoy gardening, reading, camping-- especially at the beach,
and spending time with family and friends.

Cheridy and Kacey: We enjoy
discussing all things education and technology and have fun collaborating.

10/02/2011

Here’s a post with more questions than answers. It’s a post that reflects learning in
progress about gaming and education.

Here’s what I hear
practicing teachers saying: For the
most part, they see the potential of gaming, but they face some challenges
using it. The technology is not always
functioning in the class or able to support it.
When the tech does work, fitting it into the curriculum, making sure it aligns with
the standards, etc. for multiple reasons is a task that is asking a lot from an
underpaid and overworked group of dedicated people. Some want one place to go to—where they are
not searching all over the Internet to find resources. In essence, these teachers want it
incorporated into the curriculum they are using and part of a system.

I also hear many teachers saying they are extremely hesitant to recommend or use
online games that require passwords. This hesitancy is at all levels
K-adult. The ramifications of managing
25+ kindergarten students on more than one online site is understandable. Yes, I’ve read multiple ways of doing this—using
the same password, etc., but the reality of it is enough to turn most teachers
away. This issue persists all the way to
adults. I see it changing, but many of
my adult students are hesitant to create yet another password and
username. It can lead to good
discussions about security, digital footprints, etc, but is it all worth the
time and effort the busy teacher asks?

Equal opportunities: And then, there is the question, how can students
access these same sites outside of class to extend their learning? Not all students have access to the Internet
at home; while other students in the same class not only have the Internet, but
their own iPads. Is it fair for the
teacher to require or recommend online games or apps when only a portion of the
students have access to them outside of class?
Is it fair for them to not recommend them?

These questions lead to other questions: 1. Perhaps
a disruptive educational innovation in the hands of students and teachers is on
the horizon that includes gaming, individualizing instruction and addresses
some of the issues faced? Oh, let’s
throw transmedia storytelling in there
for good measure too. 2. What changes are on the horizon with text
based curriculum? See
our previous discussion on this topic.
3. And then the inevitable can of
worms: How does all this fit into standardized testing? Life is interesting in part due to not having
all the answers.

As I search, here are actions I wish to pursue and
encourage others to do:

Keep searching for
online and mobile games that do indeed foster positive learning experiences
beyond rote memorization to developing high order thinking skills. Use the revised version of Bloom’s
Taxonomy as a measuring stick.

Advocate for educational
gaming that is accessible to teachers
and students both inside and outside of school. The author’s of Disrupting Class
have an intriguing blog. This
article is one of several that relates to this topic.

(This is perhaps the hardest considering how much our
teachers face and do.) Encourage creative and innovative administrators
and teachers to look beyond the curriculum.
There are some amazing opportunities out there that are not bound by
textbooks or walls and that do incorporate the standards and keep individual
students at the center.

Promote computer
science K-12. Whenever we can put
students in the role of the designer, empowering them with these tools, we are
empowering them with critical thinking skills and perhaps shaping our future.

In the meantime, when can teachers use gaming? In the broader definition, most do. See the low tech World
Peace Game post for an example. It
can also begin with simple steps like discovering what is available. (See links below to get started.) Creating links to games on class websites or
blogs can also be effective for providing kids safe spaces in independent work
time or as an outside of school recommendation.

Here are recommendations to get
started for finding appropriate educational gaming: